JAMBOREE NOTEBOOK

Joe Biden's presidential adventure has brought him
recognition for his grasp of foreign policy and solid
marks for his performance in the debates.

What it has not brought him is money.

The Federal Election Commission has a nifty new
"Presidential Campaign Finance Map" on its Web site at
fec.gov, detailing the contributions collected by 19
candidates, including Biden's fellow Democrats and the
Republicans, through the most recent reporting date of
June 30.

The leaders are Hillary Clinton with $62 million and
Barack Obama at $59 million for the Democrats and Mitt
Romney at $44 million and Rudy Giuliani at $35 million
for the Republicans.

Baseball has its "Mendoza Line," a meager .200
batting average named for a shortstop who lingered
around that level for nine seasons. The Democratic
presidential field appears to have its own "Biden Line"
separating the "long shots" from the "no shots."

With $6 million, Biden trails the other underdogs
like Bill Richardson at $13 million and Chris Dodd at
$12 million, but it puts distance between him and the
no-chance candidacies of Dennis Kucinich at $1 million
and Mike Gravel with a couple of hundred thousand.

Biden's modest finances prompted Tom Carper, the
state's other Democratic senator, to try to help out
Saturday at their party's Sussex County Beach Jamboree
at Cape Henlopen State Park.

While other candidates headed to the Hamptons this
summer for upscale receptions where donors maxed out by
writing checks at $2,300 a pop, Carper decided to pass
the hat for Biden -- literally. He plunked $100 of his
own into a cowboy hat and then went trolling for dollars
with a couple of aides among 300 or so Democrats at the
jamboree.

It probably was legal. Federal election law allows
cash contributions of up to $100, to be listed on
campaign finance reports as "un-itemized."

In addition, Secretary of State Harriet Smith Windsor
was inspired by the hoopla to write out a check for
Biden for $1,000.

Carper hauled in about $1,000. Not bad -- although
maybe not as good as Biden could have done if he were a
Republican and people let him scrounge behind the sofa
cushions in Chateau Country.

# # #

Delawareans do not make presidents. Iowans do.

It is the reason that Biden was so pleased about a
turn of events in Iowa, the site of the first
presidential caucuses, that he scooped his own news when
he spoke at the jamboree.

"In Iowa, we will be announcing at the end of this
Labor Day weekend, I believe, that we will have more
endorsements from the state legislature than anyone,
including Hillary or anyone else running," Biden said.

It earned him a whoop and a round of applause from
the crowd, which knows its politics and understood the
implication -- that these down-ballot politicians in
Iowa figure it would be better for Democratic candidates
to have Biden at the top of the ticket, not Clinton or
anybody else.

By contrast, no one paid much attention to what some
Delaware Democratic politicians thought about Biden.
Before the jamboree, there was a meeting of the party's
state executive committee, which produced a resolution
from the four regional chairs -- Theo Gregory in
Wilmington, Jim Paoli in New Castle County, Abby Betts
in Kent County and Tom Chapman in Sussex County -- to
commend Biden on his candidacy.

They had to, though. It might not be much news that
they did it, but it sure would be if they declined.